Loving the underdog is what Aussies are all about, and this was proved again last night at the 54th Annual Logies Awards Ceremony held at Crown Palladium in Melbourne.
Despite Carrie Bickmore of Channel 10’s highly successful The Project being the favourite to take out the major gong, the Gold Logie for most popular personality on TV went instead to comedian Hamish Blake of Hamish and Andy’s Gap Year.
In a minor controversy leading up to this unexpected win, while testing its new IPad application the Herald Sun experienced a technical glitch, leading to the publishing of a link to an embargoed press release containing Logies winners an hour prior to the Gold Logie being officially announced during Channel Nine’s coverage.
The link was killed immediately, but not before Google picked it up. In the split second it was available, lucky net-trawlers picked it up and leaked it onto Facebook and Twitter, which erupted with chatter over Blake’s win.
Although some journalists covering the awards began to received word about this inadvertent slip-up, such did not reach Blake himself, and so the win came as a genuine surprise to the Nine Network’s funny-man.
Blake, overjoyed at his surprise victory, was quick to thank right-hand man Andy Lee, who he felt jointly deserved the Gold Logie. In a double whammy for Blake, the pair was awarded the Logie for their show Hamish and Andy’s Gap Year in the Most Popular Light Entertainment Program category.
The other big surprise of the evening came the way of the ABC. On the back of immensely popular shows such as Matchbox Pictures production The Slap, which attracted consistently high ratings for the network, the broadcaster took home one third of the 23 awards from the night.
These were predominantly in the industry-based awards, with the popular awards being shared fairly evenly amongst the commercial networks and the ABC.
SBS managed to snare just the one award for the night for its well-received documentary style program Go Back To Where You Came From, which took out the Outstanding Factual Program Logie.
FULL LIST OF AWARDS
Gold Logie, Most Popular Personality on TV
Hamish Blake (Hamish & Andy's Gap Year, Nine Network)
Silver Logie, Most Popular Actress
Asher Keddie (Offspring, Network Ten / Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo, ABC1)
Silver Logie, Most Popular Actor
Hugh Sheridan (Packed To The Rafters, Seven Network)
Silver Logie, Most Popular Presenter
Adam Hills (Spicks and Specks / In Gordon St Tonight, ABC1)
Most Popular New Male Talent
Steve Peacocke (Home and Away, Seven Network)
Most Popular New Female Talent
Melissa Bergland (Winners & Losers, Seven Network)
Most Popular Drama Series
Packed To The Rafters (Seven Network)
Most Popular Light Entertainment Program
Hamish & Andy's Gap Year (Nine Network)
Most Popular Lifestyle Program
Better Homes & Gardens (Seven Network)
Most Popular Sports Program
2011 AFL Grand Final (Network Ten)
Most Popular Reality Program
The Block (Nine Network)
Most Popular Factual Program
Bondi Rescue (Network Ten)
Silver Logie, Outstanding Drama Series, Miniseries or Telemovie
The Slap (ABC1)
Silver Logie, Outstanding Actor
Rob Carlton (Paper Giants, ABC1)
Silver Logie, Outstanding Actress
Melissa George (The Slap, ABC1)
Graham Kennedy Award for Outstanding New Talent
Chelsie Preston Crayford (Underbelly: Razor, Nine Network)
Outstanding News Coverage
The Queensland Floods (Nine News, Nine Network)
Outstanding Public Affairs Report
A Bloody Business (Four Corners/Sarah Ferguson, ABC1)
Outstanding Light Entertainment Program
Spicks And Specks (ABC1)
Outstanding Sports Coverage
State Of Origin III (Nine Network)
Outstanding Children's Program
My Place (ABC3)
Outstanding Factual Program
Go Back To Where You Came From (SBS)